Play List - Monsters From The Id

I guest-hosted for Susan Brown's show Punk and Hardcore on August 17 (technically the 18th), 2004 from 3:30 AM to 6:00 AM. Susan was ill and contacted me at the last minute so without time to contact the comics community, I decided to do an all music show instead of including an interview with a writer or artist. The extra hour would give me a chance to pull out some of the longer songs I'd been holding back. However, I didn't ignore the 'Nuff Said! audience. I played a lot of songs that mentioned comic book characters. Here is my playlist, artist mentioned first, then the song title.

I usually do four-song sets. I always say what I play and too long a set makes it difficult for some listeners to keep track of which song in the middle of a set was the one they particularly liked. I figure four songs is still a lot of music without interruption. With the short notice, I didn't bring as much punk and hardcore as I usually do. I brought music that I was sure didn't have curse words in it.

I opened with the song that Ed Menje usually opened with when he did Monsters from the Id from 1986 - 1993. Ed is the man who brought me to WBAI, co-hosting MftI starting in 1991. As time went on, my musical taste had more influence in the show.

White Wedding mentions Superman; Malaria mentions the British Alan Moore character Halo Jones. While the second song was playing, Max Schmid (of Golden Age of radio Sunday nights) brought in a greeting card with the 1940s Universal Frankenstein monster and bride of Frankenstein on the front. When you open the card, there's a picture of recent horror movie character Chuckie and the card plays a piece of "White Wedding." Yep, I played the card over the air. And I enjoyed that Lene Lovich song so much I played another song from the same album.

That last song is another Superman song. Superman is in more songs than any other comic book character. By far. Although as the years go by, other characters are catching up.

That last song is from the soundtrack to The Saint movie. AC/DC was another Superman song. And I got a great phone call from a listener complimenting me for playing Good Rats. We reminisced about that local band until I had to go back on the air. So I invited more listeners to call me during the next set and I'd pick up the phone as soon as I had the whole set cued up.

That set opened and closed with comic book songs. I received so many listener phone calls during that set that I know I didn't get to them all. I found out that the Good Rats' kids are in a band and sometimes their fathers join them on stage and that Nina Hagen was playing B. B. King's - East German punk goes mainstream.

That last song is about my all-time favorite graphic novel Watchmen (also written by Alan Moore). The song before that was also from the Saint movie soundtrack. As are the first and last songs of the next set.

I'm assuming the second song there is about the comic book character, despite no clear reference to the comics, because they do so many comic book songs.

I've never seen that show, just liked the song (I didn't even know it was a TV show until Max told me). "Muscle for Brains" is a great statement about the politicians ruling (I use that word on purpose) the country right now. And I had to play another Good Rats song after all the calls I got about them! Blondie mentions Brenda Starr in that song. At this point I slow down the pace of the show as it heads into Wake Up Call. Plus I get more political.

"Monster" is, sadly, as applicable now as it was during the Viet Nam war, when it was written. I remember all the controversy Julie Brown caused with her song. Some people loved it and others wanted it never played ever again. The Cuckoo is from Donovan's new album "Beat Café" and the last song is by the late Earl Robinson, a prolific songwriter with 60-year career. I got to meet him at one of Ray Korona's house concerts. He told me the song was written as a response to school desegregation in the '50s. Three Dog Night discovered it when they heard a Dutch band playing it in a pub in England. Earl Robinson made more money from Three Dog Night's recording than any other in his entire life.

I closed the show by putting on an album that could play on if the Wake Up Call crew needed more preparation time, which they did.